


Do You Believe in Magic?

by Queen_Andr0meda



Series: stefonzolesky's Domestic Blunder AU [1]
Category: Arrested Development
Genre: Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, in this house we stan Dove Wonder Bluth, soft, this fic is technically in the stefonzolesky fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 15:02:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15294057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_Andr0meda/pseuds/Queen_Andr0meda
Summary: Gob takes Dove to see her first Tony Wonder magic show.





	Do You Believe in Magic?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stefonzolesky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stefonzolesky/gifts).



> bad title is bad, but here's the fic anyway.

Gob Bluth kissed his husband goodbye as he left for an night show at the Gothic Castle. As far as Tony knew, Gob was going to be spending the evening curled up with Dove on the couch watching all her favourite movies again, but Gob had different plans. The moment after the door closed behind Tony, Gob raced upstairs to their daughter’s bedroom where she was taking a nap. She was due to wake up any time now, so he figured there wasn’t much harm in waking her up a few minutes early. It was important that they got ready quickly if they were going to arrive at the Gothic Castle in time to watch Tony’s performance.

Gob kneeled by the foot of her bed, contemplating the best way to wake a sleeping three year-old. He reached for her face and gently brushed her bangs out of her eyes, speaking softly, “Lovey Dovey, it’s time to get up.”

Her eyelids fluttered open gradually, and Gob was greeted by the big brown eyes of his precious baby girl. Dove blinked her eyes awake a few more times before sitting up slowly. Her arms opened wide, and Gob leaned forward and hugged her. She wrapped her arms around her father’s neck and buried her little face in his shoulder, mumbling, “Hi, Daddy.”

“Hello, Sweetheart.” Gob smiled, not letting go until she did, “Are you excited to see your Dad’s magic show tonight?” She gasped and a smile broke out on her face. She nodded her head. Gob held her hands. “Then let’s get you into that cute little dress you picked out the other day, okay?”

He stood up, then lifted her onto his hip when she reached her arms up to him. He walked her over to her closet, pulling out a bag that was hidden in the back. Inside there was a glittery purple dress, perfect for the daughter of two magicians. Gob helped her get into it and then put a matching bow in her hair. Leaving her to play with some toys on her floor, Gob made his way into his and Tony’s room to put on his suit. A few minutes later, as he was straightening his tie, Dove toddled into the room and hugged Gob’s leg. He chuckled, crouching down to pick her up again. When she was settled on his hip she instantly reached for the tie that Gob had just straightened, pulling it out of the jacket and holding it towards her. “Daddy, we match!” She observed, pointing at Gob’s purple tie, then back to her purple dress.

“Yes we do, Dovey. It’s so everyone there knows that the beautiful little girl on my arm is all mine.” He blew a raspberry into her cheek and she started giggling, he used that diversion to tactfully removed the tie from her grip and put it back in place.

Ten minutes later, Gob was buckling Dove into her carseat and then climbing into the driver’s seat. Then they were off to the Gothic Castle. The three year-old spent the whole ride babbling about this or that, and Gob would respond with an “is that so?” or “that’s fascinating, Dovey.”

He pulled up to the magic club and left the car with the valet, carrying Dove to the entrance where they were stopped by the bouncer.

“Hey, man. This venue is twenty-one-plus. You can’t bring a friggin’ baby in there.” The man pointed to Dove, who pouted.

“Look,” Gob tried to explain, “you and I both know that rule is to stop teenagers from buying alcohol at the bar. No one's gonna give her booze, least of all me, so just let us in. This show really means a lot to her.”

Dove nodded, adding, “And ’m not a baby, ’m three and a half!” She held up the correct number of fingers.

The bouncer sighed and waved them in, but they didn’t get very far before Gob heard a familiar voice saying, “Is that Gob Bluth?” Gob turned to see Rollo approaching from his left, “What the hell are you doing here?” He asked, then noticed Dove, “Why did the bouncer let you in here with a baby? And, better question, why the hell do you have a baby?”

Gob rolled his eyes. He hated Rollo, and Rollo hated him, so Gob had insisted to Tony that the Alliance stay far away from their relationship. Very few of the Magicians knew that they were married, despite their highly publicized wedding, and none knew about Dove. “I’m taking her to her first magic show. Tony Wonder  _ is _ the best magician there is, apart from me, of course.”

Rollo laughed, “Bold of you to assume you’re even comparable to Tony Wonder.” Then walked off again. Gob just rolled his eyes and found a seat. As they waited, he bounced Dove up and down on his knee absently. She looked around the venue in awe, occasionally pointing to things and saying their names, to which Gob would either praise her for getting it right or gently correct her. He glanced over to the bean-bag chair a few feet away. It had been a while since he'd been to one of Tony’s shows, so he wasn't sure if the act had changed or not. He sat next to it anyway, just in case.

The lights went down and Gob hushed his daughter, putting his hands on top of hers and clapping them together. The extras took their places, and in moments fake-Tony appeared on stage and started going through the act. Dove pointed to the man wearing her father’s face excitedly. She wasn't old enough to get the story or really anything Tony’s voiceover was saying, but she got that her dad didn't want to go in the closet. Gob was holding his breath leading up to the voiceover’s “I'm here… I’m queer…”

Tony burst out of the beanbag chair shouting “Did somebody say Wonder?”

As the crowd burst into cheers, Dove squealed happily, kicking her legs and clapping her chubby little hands together. “Dada!” She called, causing Tony to whip around to face them. 

His face lit up and he bent over to hold the hand she reached out. “Hi, babygirl,” he grinned at her. Then his eyes met his husband’s and there was a strange moment of deja vu, “I didn't expect to see you here.”

Gob didn't reply. Even years later, Tony still managed to enchant him to his very core. Tony ran back up onstage to finish his trick with his signature “Now everybody’s gay!” But when the applause died down, he went off script. “Hello! How is everyone?” He paused for cheers, “This is the part where I’d usually continue with more illusions; but first, I have some very special guests in the audience and I'd like to invite them up here.” He waved at Gob to come onstage with Dove; so Gob stood up, lifting Dove up onto his hip and joining Tony, who presented them to the audience with a flourish of his hands. “Introducing my husband, Gob Bluth, and our little girl, Dove!”

Gob nudged Dove, trying to get her to look at the cheering audience, but she buried her head in the crook of his shoulder and he felt tiny nails dig into the back of his neck. He tried bouncing her up and down to calm her, but he could feel her trembling. “Babe,” Gob whispered to Tony, leaning his head close, “Dovey’s getting really uncomfortable, I’m taking her back to her seat.” He waved an awkward goodbye to the audience and went back to his seat.

As Gob walked offstage, Tony could see Dove’s face, scrunched up with tears running down her cheeks. His heart snapped in two and he was filled with guilt. Tony watched helplessly as Gob tried to calm her, but Gob looked up and indicated for him to continue with the show. Regrettably, Tony did continue for the sake of the paying audience. Dove seemed to cheer up once he started performing again, but he still felt bad. Gob slipped out the door with Dove as soon as the show ended, so Tony drove home in anxious silence.

Gob was waiting for him when he walked through the door to their home. He embraced his husband, kissing his neck and whispering in his ear, “You were amazing tonight, Tony.”

Tony was still tense in Gob’s arms. “How’s Dove? I feel so awful about it.”

“Calm down, baby, she's fine,” Gob said, rubbing his husband’s back reassuringly, “She was back to our happy little Lovey Dovey as soon as she left the stage. Neither of us knew that she would react like that, so it isn’t your fault.”

“That’s oddly rational coming from you, Gob. You used to be inconsolable whenever she’d cry for normal reasons.”

Gob laughed, “Yeah, that’s how I know that little kids cry at everything. It was just too much at once, too much sound, too many lights and too many people. She’s in the living room, playing, if you want to see for yourself that she’s okay.”

“She’s awake?” Tony asked, concerned again. “Gob! What the hell? It’s so late!”

“I know! I tried putting her to bed, but she said she wanted to stay up ‘til you got home and you know I can’t say no to her!” Gob tried to defend himself. 

Tony chuckled and rolled his eyes, walking past Gob into the living room, where he walked up behind his daughter. She greeted him with an excited, “Dada!” throwing her arms around his neck.

“How’d you like the show, babygirl?” He asked, hopefully. “You looked very pretty in that dress.”

Dove beamed, rambling on, “It was so good! I liked the part where you jumped out of the thing, and when you made that other thing appear after you said the magic words. Daddy helped me pick out the dress, and we match so he didn’t lose me in the magic house!”

Gob leaned against the entryway to their living room. As he observed the sweet exchange between his husband and their daughter, he felt an uncontrollable smile spread across his face. He couldn’t comprehend how lucky he had gotten. If someone had told ten-years-ago Gob that this is how his life would turn out, he wouldn’t believe them. He would’ve called their bluff once they said he’d be happy. But he  _ was _ happy. Gob stood up straight and walked over to where the two most important people in his life were, crouching down and joining their conversation. Together, he and his husband put their daughter to bed, before retiring to their own room. Nestled in each other’s arms, Gob wondered again how on earth he’d managed to get so lucky.

**Author's Note:**

> (the next chap of A Real-Life, Happily Ever After is coming real soon, as well as some other fun projects.)


End file.
